The word ’intimate’ does not at first glance fit the heavily textured paintings by
Colombian-born, Montreal artist Luis Fernando Suarez. For this is the intimacy of
the earth, of the soil on which we tread, the intimacy of the land from which we
sprung. The air and the colours of Suarez’ home country permeate his works,
seeping into the composition, unearthing, revealing the artist’s inner vision.

To say that Suarez paints is a bit of a misnomer. What he does is build and excavate
using his hands for the most part. Layers upon layers of pigment and plaster make
up his abstract compositions, but the creative process sees them scraped away,
gouged, re-worked endlessly until there is the final moment of suspension. Suarez
paints on the floor, his studio like a vast workshop filled with containers of drywall
compound he mixes himself and applies to the canvas before adding the pigment.
The results of such physical approach to art are a form of release for the artist,
emotions revealed and conquered.

In this intimate, because of its size, exhibition at Galerie Luz, Suarez’s paintings
resemble fragments excised from some enormous tectonic plate. Unlike his large
format works, the paintings on display allow for a more personal appreciation of the
artist’s unusual technique. The spontaneity of gesture is clearly on display, as is the
very labour that goes into producing these pieces.

There are cracks and fissures in the surface, fragments of paint breaking off, as if
there was some kind of vibration underneath, an energy making itself felt.
The titles are almost facetious and perhaps unnecessary, since these abstracted
alien landscapes lend themselves to myriad interpretations best left to the viewer.